Root bags for planting under maples

Lykaon - Ohio Zone 6aMarch 23, 2012

A year or two ago I remember reading (at this forum I think) about someone using cloth bags with an anti root treatment to plant hosta under a maple tree. Basically the hosta was planted inside a bag with the anti root coating facing out to dissuade the maple roots from invading the hosta.

I was searching for maple and hosta on this forum and my google search was turning up anti-root fabric for much larger applications.

My house was built on farm land and we're fortunate to have a small creek in the back yard. The creek bank opposite our house is filled with Honeysuckle trees. I hate the trees with a passion but we've left them in place because they're thick enough to block our view of the neighbors from April through November.

I'm guessing that if these will work for maples they'll work for honeysuckle too.

I tried the spin-out bags, and although they work okay I bought a 100' by 4' roll of the TEX-R fabric and find it's easier to use (cut to tailor to size) and cheaper in the long run if you have lots of tree roots.

I can't answer either question but I recently saw an article where both Spin-Out bags and wire cages were used to protect hostas. The article didn't state there was evidence the bags had been penetrated by voles.

I will add a lot of compost to the soil when filling the bag in the hole. Sure, all hostas like some fertilizer, now the tree roots can't get at the fertilizer though.

I hope the fabric has some life expectancy similar to landscape fabric, i.e. 10 years. Tex-r is a needle-punched non-woven fabric and also used in permanent plantings to keep weeds out, see the link.
Bernd

Just curious - do you have to dig up the bags and refresh the soil every so often?

I wondered that myself. If one selects the big enough bag and puts in great soil amendments then technically it doesn't matter what the surrounding soil is like...I know I am being facetious but it could be even...concrete ;)?